MLive-Bay City Slam Dunk

BAY CITY, MI – At no point during the season did Bay City All Saints look like a championship team.

Until it hoisted the trophy.

When the Cougars venture to the Class D girls basketball regional tournament Tuesday, March 4 at Akron-Fairgrove, they take with them a 3-18 record that makes them the state’s most unlikely district champions.

After enduring a 1-18 regular season, All Saints showed it had learned from its lumps by knocking off Caseville and Kinde North Huron to land it ninth district title in 11 seasons. The Cougars now take a hot hand – and a look of champions – into their regional semifinal with Kingston (18-4) at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

“The first day of practice I told them, ‘I’m a realist. We are not going to win the conference. We are not going to go 20-0. But our goal is to win the brown mitt – the district championship trophy.’ We spent the whole year getting ready for the second season,” first-year All Saints coach Jaden Clobes said.

“After we won, I sat down with the girls and thanked them. I can only imagine how hard it is to come to practice after losing games by 20-30 points and not winning since the second game of the season. But they came to practice like they were 18-1.”

This actually marks the second straight season that All Saints won more postseason games than regular season games. The Cougars went 2-18 a year ago then rattled off three straight wins in district week. And this is the ninth time in program history they’ve won a district title with a losing record.

Still, this year’s feat remains a shocker. All Saints not only lost but lost badly while being overmatched in their final season in the powerful Greater Thumb West. The Cougars averaged just 16.7 points per game and were held in single digits five times.

With eight freshmen and sophomores on the 12-player roster – and a new coach at the helm – a season of hard knocks came as no surprise. But with the leadership of seniors Katie Debo and Chelsea Casper, the team stuck together through the rough times and was rewarded for it.

“They realized they’re a young group and not a lot was expected of them,” Clobes said. “But now they see their future is bright, and they’re going to stick together and work hard to become a better team.

“I told them it will a long, long time before All Saints wins just one game in a season again.”